Gotham Harvest
by Almostgrown
Summary: Avian Flu has come to Gotham at Thanksgiving and with it, a new masked figure intent on scavenging from the remains of the city, until confronted by the Dark Knight.
1. Chapter 1

Batman: Gotham Harvest

Chapter 1

Gotham City. Even in uptown, the plumes of smoke snake through the streets, climb the buildings and hover outside windows like prowlers casing their next target. But this isn't uptown, this is The Narrows, where the buildings are so close, you can reach out your window and touch your neighbor's sill. There are no good days here.

Due to Jonathan Crane, over half the population of this neighborhood suffers some form of schizophrenia, and most are drug addicts. The people of The Narrows are transient; they prefer it that way. It keeps them from drawing too much attention, which around here, is a death sentence. Most of Gotham's citizens consider this side of the river a lost cause, and are letting it rot away on its own terms. Gotham P.D. gave The Narrows consideration long enough to institute a curfew, raising the bridges nightly at 11 o'clock to bring piece of mind to their more valued citizenry in upper Gotham. The rules are simple, between 11pm and 6am, whichever side of the river you're on is where you stay.

But there are some who don't follow the rules.

There are 2 visitors to The Narrows tonight who don't belong. One is on the streets below, while the other travels a higher path along the rooftops.

The streets are eerily quiet tonight. Even the wicked know when to be afraid. The sounds of boots click with each step on the concrete. Then the sound stops, leaving only the unnatural quiet as if a heart just ceased beating.

A gloved hand reaches down to inspect an object left behind by one of the neighbor-hood's less than upstanding inhabitants, a used syringe emblazoned with the name 'blis/z'.

Rachel Dawes, assistant District Attorney for Gotham, seals the syringe and her latex surgical glove in a plastic bag, pulling out a notebook with scribbled notes and addresses.

"I didn't realize Gotham had an overnight cleaning crew," echoes a voice from nowhere.

"I didn't hear you come down from the rooftops," quips the sassy lawyer.

Melting from the shadows of a pitch-black alley, the figure of Batman comes into the light only enough to silhouette the cape and cowl of the masked avenger. His cape cocoons his body armor, hiding the menacing array of technology and brute savagery that lurks beneath it. "That's why you shouldn't be in The Narrows, Rachel," he says with an unnerving lack of emotion.

"The Police won't come here to collect the evidence that can put this guy away for a lifetime. He's a dealer, and if he isn't peddling this new stuff, he can lead us to the person who is." Rachel stands her ground against the Batman; she isn't intimidated by the symbol, but isn't sure what to make of the man behind it anymore.

"I'll get to the drug's designer; but I can't do that while watching over you down here night after night." This isn't going as well as he thought it would. He'd forgotten how stubborn she could be.

"You get to them your way; I'll get to them my way. I don't tell you how to go about your vigilante crusade, so don't tell me how to do my job." The determination in her eyes is a façade to cover the sadness of crossing paths with her childhood friend this way. They are on the same side, though just barely. Rachel has faith in the laws of Gotham, that with a few preserving their sanctity, the city can be cleaned up for a new generation. The Batman has little of that faith left. The man behind the mask wavers on the edge of a psychotic nightmare, trained with the stealth and agility of a ninja, and the warrior code of a samurai, the beast he unleashes upon the criminal underground of Gotham comes dangerously close to becoming the menace.

"You're job is in the courtrooms of Upper Gotham. Can't you see the difference between what you are during the day and what you become at night?"

"Can you, Bru…?" before she can finish, the Batman has pulled his harpoon pistol from his utility belt and fired the cable into the air, pulling Rachel into him, he snaps the gun to his belt and hits the retract button as he grabs tightly to Rachel just as he becomes airborne. Ascending between the buildings, the lights from windows blur as the speed increases.

As quickly as they left the ground, they come to a stop; Rachel is lowered onto a fire escape with Batman right behind, as they climb to the rooftop. The silence is filled with frustration, as neither can seem to reach the other.

"Damn it, Rachel. How many times are we going to do this? It isn't safe for you to come here." She flops into a corner of the rooftop while he paces trying to find a way to reach her with reason.

"I didn't ask you to follow me."

"It's what I do. But you're looking for a fight. If not from them, then with me." Batman calms enough to perch in the corner of the rooftop next to Rachel. He wants to end this fight and get her to safety.

"That's ridiculous."

"Then why the boots that echo for blocks when you walk? You don't know what you're walking into here."

"I know the streets are deserted and any sound will stand out. You have them scared, why not use that to my advantage to get what I need to clean this place up?" Instinct tells him they've spent too much time with this confrontation, allowed their guards to drop enough to have lost observation of their surroundings. They must move, and Rachel isn't ready for this fight to end. He knows he will have to forcibly move her.

"You're wrong. It isn't me they're afraid of tonight. Come on, I'm taking you across the river." At the moment Batman grabs her arm an explosion on the street below rocks the foundation of the building. "Are you alright?" Batman doesn't wait for a response as he peers over the ledge to the street below. "Don't move from this spot." And then he leaps.

Diving through the smoke, he flares his cape and the scalloped wings take shape gliding him safely to the ground, steps from where the evening began. He disappears into the smoke, expecting a battalion of thugs laying in wait. All he finds is a ruptured gas line. But then the smell makes its way to him, something burnt, like chicken burning in the oven with the stench of sulfur. Batman follows the smell to the remnants of a garbage dumpster. Inside the dumpster is the charred body of a transient, burned beyond recognition, a homemade crack pipe in his hand. On the ground lay a Zippo lighter, most of the purple paint singed off. Nothing left to investigate here.

The Batman fades into the darkness to return to get Rachel. Climbing over the fire escape to the roof, he explains the disturbance, "It was just a crack addict choosing a very bad place to light up. I'll notify public works about the broken…" but then he realizes he is alone. "Rachel?" The roof isn't that big, where could she be? He looks over the ledge into the fire escape. "Rachel." Then he sees her pen, in the spot where he left her. She and the rest of her belongings are gone. "RACHEL!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bruce Wayne awakens startled in his bed in Wayne Manor. Bright sunlight streams through the balcony window where the heavy black velvet curtains have not been pulled together tightly enough. The caretaker of the Manor, Alfred Pennyworth, saunters in with freshly pressed clothing for his charge. "Awake before noon again? Keep that up and people shall begin to talk, sir."

Bruce looks around wearily, as if he doesn't quite recognize where he is for those first few moments. Then as the fog of exhaustion lifts from his eyes, he remembers what roused him from his mid-morning slumber. A look of sadness and guilt settles into his face. The moment isn't lost on Alfred, "Miss Dawes again, Master Bruce?"

Bruce nods unable yet to put the grief aside to form words. He musters the strength to say only one thing, "I'd like to go see her today, Alfred."

"As you wish, sir." This reply has been given before, along with other thoughts from the fatherly butler, in the seven months since the night Rachel disappeared from that rooftop.

Seven months and all that matters to Bruce is that he didn't stop it from happening. Standing in front of Rachel Dawes' grave in Gotham Holy Trinity Cemetery, only one thought lingers in the mind of the young billionaire.

_Why can I never save those I care for?_

This thought repeats like a Buddhist mantra, until the same interruption, which always ends this contemplation, finally comes. "Are we to have this conversation again Master Bruce?" Bruce stands like a mourning statue, the rainy day in Gotham running down his face like tears. Behind him, Alfred stands with an umbrella, ready to shelter his charge should he decide to stop punishing himself for the loss of Rachel.

"There is a chance, you know, that she is still alive. After all, you were gone 7 years; she's only been away for 7 months."

"I chose my path, Alfred. She was taken, while my back was turned. All my training and I let it happen again."

"With all due respect, she also chose a path. She knew the dangers of her lifestyle and career and accepted the consequences. I would have expected you to understand that better than most. Now, I've grown tired of having this talk week after week, so this part I've saved for just the right occasion." Bruce is caught off guard with this remark, he knows Alfred well enough to know what comes next will be a stern reprimand for behavior unbecoming of a Wayne. Alfred folds the umbrella and walks to the side of the rain soaked Bruce.

"You can choose to honor her by continuing the fight both of you believed in or you can cheapen her sacrifice by standing here like a nancy-boy in wet knickers. The choice is yours, but I'm going to the car."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On this crisp November night, atop the roof of the 41st precinct of the Gotham Police Department, a lone figure clasps his jacket together with a clenched fist and holds a steaming cup of coffee below his face, letting the steam rise to bathe his cheeks and nose with warmth. He glances at the clock tower 2 blocks away, and notes that his shift ended over an hour ago. He flicks the switch that controls the high wattage Klieg light with the symbol of a black bat painted over its glass cover. The hum of the bulb fades as the light flickers out and the man stumbles his way to the stairwell in the dark.

"Waiting for someone, Captain?" The voice is without a body, but the police officer knows to whom it belongs.

"Sure as hell took you long enough" grumbles the cold officer. "Haven't seen you in a while. I'd ask if everything is alright, but you don't look like the talkative type." Jim Gordon was one of the few honest cops left in Gotham when approached by Batman to form an alliance to clean up the corrupted city. With the shake up of the underground, many a corrupt officer was caught on the take in some form or other, allowing a good cop like Gordon the opportunity to rise through the ranks more quickly as those above him take early retirement in Gotham Penitentiary.

"I've been working a special case. Rachel Dawes."

"The assistant D.A. that disappeared in The Narrows last spring. I couldn't get a forensics team to go near that place."

Batman hands a file to Gordon, nondescript in packaging; it merely has two words as its label, Rachel Dawes. "That's a complete forensics work-up from the area where she disappeared. I don't expect it will be admissible in court without expert analysis, so you'd better have the Gotham University Forensic Science Department confirm the findings. My reputation among the Gotham Circuit Court is not highly respectable."

"Can't imagine why, eyewitness to hundreds of cases but won't testify, questionable apprehending technique, and forensic analysis equipment that far surpasses anything the city has at its disposal." Though his words don't give it away, Gordon is impressed by what this masked vigilante provides him time and time again.

"Any word on this joker that leaves playing cards at the scene of his crimes? Sorry, pet name I've come up with for him. You know the guy."

"He's gone underground since the robbery at D/C pharmaceuticals. I'm still tracking his movements, but a pattern hasn't emerged yet. That reminds me, you'd better tell your Narcotics unit to be on the lookout for this." Batman tosses a bag with a used syringe in it, one that bears the label 'blis/z'.

"What is it?" Gordon picks up the bag and looks it over.

"New designer drug called 'blis/z', I ran a trace analysis and found elements of ecstasy and liquefied nitrous oxide, laughing gas."

"Liquefied laughing gas, what will they think of next? We'll check with Metropolis and Central City to see if it's rolled out to the streets there yet." The evidence in his hands overwhelms Gordon. He isn't sure where to start.

"By the way, congratulations on the promotion, Captain."

"Thanks. I don't suppose one of these nights I could get you to meet me inside the building…." But when he looks up, The Batman is gone, the way all of their conversations end.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bruce steps out of the Elevator on the top floor of Wayne Enterprises and is greeted by Lucinda, the executive assistant for himself and Lucius Fox, chairman of the board. The door opens to Bruce's office and he walks in to find Lucius sitting comfortably at the desk reading a newspaper. "When Lucinda told me you were coming in to meet me this early in the morning, I thought I had better check the paper to see if they had any pictures of those flying pigs."

"Did they only have one joke when you and Alfred were growing up?"

"The classics never go out of style, Mr. Wayne. Though with hours like these, you could run the company yourself."

"Now why would I want to do a crazy thing like that?" Bruce locks the door and notifies Lucinda by intercom that he and Lucius are in a closed-door meeting and not to be disturbed.

Bruce opens a secret compartment in his desk and reveals a biometric tablet, places his hand on the scanner and allows the unique signature of his handprint to activate a hidden elevator behind the bookcase. The shelf unit swings open and Lucius folds his newspaper and grabs his coat from the desk, following Bruce into the compartment.

"You know, you're chair is much more comfortable than mine, Bruce."

"It's just newer from lack of use." The bookcase swings shut as the elevator door closes and the gentlemen quietly descend through Wayne Tower.

"Four more cases of avian flu diagnosed last night at Gotham Memorial Hospital. Gotham University Hospital has over twenty. The CDC has bumped this to a phase 4 pandemic alert." Lucius, like Bruce, takes the problems of Gotham quite seriously.

"How bad is that?" Bruce doesn't pretend to know about advanced sciences. His knowledge of simple chemistry and biology is far outweighed by the scientific mind of Lucius Fox.

"At phase 6, it will be airborne and highly contagious to the general population."

"I think it's time for Wayne Enterprises to bring in a research and development team to aid university hospital staff." Bruce donates a considerable amount of money and equipment to Gotham University, not only for the altruistic value of funding higher education, but because Batman uses the same highly advanced equipment to analyze forensic data, chemical compounds, tissue samples and genetic signatures and the police need access to similar equipment to follow up on Batman's leads.

"I know just the man, Dr. Thomas Snood, Professor Emeritus at Metropolis Institute of Technology's School for Genetic Medicine. I'll have him here tomorrow. I've already spoken to Dr. Catherine Henner, the Senior Virologist at Gotham University Hospital and she will liaise with Dr. Snood's team and her own virology unit."

The elevator comes to a stop in the lower levels of Wayne Tower, what used to be applied sciences, when that department officially existed. Now Research and Development handles the design of new technologies, and Prototype Operations handles the building. What neither of these departments knows is that many of the high-end weapons and systems they design never make it to the Contract Productions department for mass production. Lucius personally oversees all prototypes and selects several to be decommissioned immediately after prototype build and transferred to an undisclosed, secure storage facility. Accessible only to himself and Bruce, this area is the warehouse that holds the new and replacement equipment used by Batman in his nightly crusades.

As the two men step out of the elevator into the warehouse, affectionately codenamed 'The Stockroom' by the two, Lucius notes that this isn't the first time Wayne Enterprises has set up a research team for an avian flu epidemic. Lucius explains that when Bill Earl ran the company in Bruce's absence, Dr. Snood was hired to run a research and development unit on avian flu vaccination during his tenure at Gotham University. Without warning or reason, the project was terminated one day and Dr. Snood resigned from Gotham University and left the city days later.

"Since there was no outbreak of avian flu, Earl wouldn't see a point to continuing the development of a vaccine." Lucius agreed that was possible, but was less ready to dismiss this coincidence than Bruce.

At the moment, Bruce is more enticed by an object he sees out of the corner of his eye. He walks over to the storage racks that line one of the walls of The Stockroom, as Lucius continues to expound on the qualifications of Dr. Snood. Bruce looks the object over trying to discern its purpose. A puzzled expression on his face, the innocuous looking black rod looks more like an 8-inch scrap of metal. He begins feeling for a button or switch to activate whatever sort of weapon this is when Lucius intervenes.

"Wait, wait. I don't think you're ready for that just yet."

"What is it?" asks Bruce curiously eyeing the container.

"JPL. Jet Propulsion Launcher. Titanium casing with a remote ignition and shut off; holds enough fuel for a 10 second sustained burn. 2 of these will produce enough thrust to propel you into the air over 200 feet."

Bruce's astonishment turns to concern, "Where do I put them?"

"There was a boot adapter for it somewhere around here, has a heat shield built in to protect your feet. By the way, I'd like you to bring in the Tumbler. I want to check the wear on the tires and run diagnostics on the engine."

"Do I get an oil change in 30 minutes or less with that?"

"This is very precise technology you are using. Without proper maintenance and care, this stuff will burn out on you. And in you're line of work son, that could mean life and death. Don't take that for granted."

"It's not like I can just drive it in tomorrow morning instead of the Jag."

"Well I'm not going out to that damp, dark cave again with all the bat guano, so you'd better figure something out."

Bruce and Lucius finish boxing replacement cartridges for the harpoon gun with other expendables that are running low in the Batcave's supply room. Bruce takes one last look around to see if there is anything else he must have to add to his arsenal, then closes the briefcase to conceal the weapons he will take home with him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The warmth of the city lifts from the streets like a shroud over a corpse in a mausoleum, leaving only the cold, lifeless vessel underneath exposed. So it is with Gotham. The city is a corpse, which during the day, can be made up to look as though it still has blood running through its arteries and veins, but the truth is unmistakable at night. The life has left this city.

Watching from First Church of the Trinity, along the river on the Narrows side, the gargoyles keep watch over this forsaken land, keepers to the gates of Hell on Earth. As cold as the city below, the sentries are poised as if ready to leap into action. One of them, however, is not content to merely watch.

The night is where he belongs; it is when Bruce feels most at ease. It isn't the body armor or weapons that comfort him during these lonely nights above the city, but that familiar feeling. Looking at the cold steel cityscape of Gotham, Bruce feels a connection. His crystallized emotions freeze him and harden his resolve to a diamond-like clarity of focus.

The sound of a bottle breaking and the rattling of a chain link fence draw his attention, and with the turn of his head, it is Batman and not a stone demon that has been guarding the city.

He dives straight down into the depths of the Narrows. He tucks into a mid air somersault to flip his feet below him and the micro-fiber cape becomes a parachute to slow his descent. He lands silently on the top of a roof and runs to the edge, leaping without a second's hesitation or doubt as to where this may take him. The next building is lower, hidden from view by the previous ledge. Batman lands on the rooftop with a tumble roll and is instantaneously back to his feet. A brief pause to ascertain the direction of the sound. A flip of a switch on the cowl and the amplified hearing device hidden in the bat ear is activated allowing the caped crusader to hear a whisper one hundred yards away. Lenses slide down over the eyes of the night stalker and infrared night vision is activated, seeking out signs of life by signature of body heat.

Then he sees what he has been searching for, a figure stumbling down an alley, globules of heat signature dropping from him as he careens unsteadily. He is losing massive amounts of blood very quickly

"Here pussy, pussy, pussy." The bionic ear receives its first transmission of the night as five more figures enter the scope's field of vision.

"Boss-man sent us to collect on yer skimming."

The wounded body in the lead slumps to the ground, perhaps losing the strength or will or both. "No, please, it was a misunderstanding, I didn't know..."

But he isn't begging to the gang behind him. He is throwing himself at the mercy of something in front of him, something that doesn't have a heat register and appears only as a faint apparition to the infrared eyes.

Demonic laughter fills the earpiece, loud enough to be heard without amplified devices, it echoes through the corridors of the Narrows. The injured man is thrown back to the ground with blinding force. Batman has seen enough.

He draws his harpoon gun and fires diagonally into a construction yard, snagging the steel girders with the hooks. Locking the cable into place as he runs to the far corner of the rooftop, he leaps into the alley adjacent to the fray. The angle of the jump and harpoon line allow him one chance for a surprise attack, as he swings down into the alley, the cable veers to the right and he rounds the corner into the melee.

As the gang encircles their victim, swinging boots connect with the face of one of the attackers, the sound of cracking bones quickly replaced by silence.

"whut th' bluddy fook wuzzat?" is all one of them has time to say before two metal throwing stars slice the air with high pitched whirrs, striking one thug through his outstretched forearm, pinning it to the derelict wall behind him. The other spikes the foot of another assailant bringing him to the ground.

From above, Batman drops into the action, grabbing the head of a mop haired, multi-pierced freak as he lands and slamming it into his knee. He spins and kicks his foot-impaled victim in the face, sending him backward into the dark. One of the horde decides to make a move against the Dark Knight; he pulls a switchblade and races toward the armored chest plate. Batman snaps his arm to catch the aggressor by the throat. In desperation, the man jams the knife in the arm that holds him captive, but it stops about half an inch in. The determination turns to fear in the short man's face as he tries to unleash himself from the grip, but Batman squeezes, cutting off the air supply to the thug, his already crooked nose contorting even more to find air.

The fifth gang member stumbles back into the ruckus, nose broken and bloodied from meeting Batman's boots. He grabs a chain and whips it at Batman while he is preoccupied with choking the thug's cohort. Batman grabs the chain and pulls the miscreant to him, winding the chain around the neck of the mohawked youth. The teen grabs at the chain to remove it from his neck, but it is too late, Batman has grabbed his Taser and jams it onto the chain conduit, sending thousands of volts directly into the spinal column and nervous system of the gangbanger.

Just as the short man in his grasp loses consciousness, Batman drops him to the ground. The shadowy avenger turns to see the first of his prey still pinned to the wall in terror, having lost bladder control at the sight of this monster single-handedly taking out his crew, he stands in a puddle of his own urine. He isn't going anywhere.

Batman looks to find the man who was injured prior to his arrival. He finds the man laying face up in the far end of the alley, covered in blood. Stab wounds to the arm and abdomen were probably the causes of the blood droplets as he made his way through the alley, but the wounds on his face must have come from the mysterious figure in front of him while he was begging. His face has been slashed from each corner of the mouth to the bottom of the earlobes. The mark eerily resembles a grin. Contrasted with the look of horror sculpted into the victim's face, as if the last thing he saw was the devil himself.

The man is still alive but begins to go into convulsive shock from the massive loss of blood. Batman grabs a vial from his belt and loads into an injector mechanism, pushes the man hard against the ground and shoves the needle into the chest, injecting adrenaline into the heart. He then quickly wraps the wounds to slow the blood loss until he can get the man to a medical facility.

Batman turns to question his captive only to find the gang member has freed himself from the stiletto constraint, leaving only a small dangling piece of flesh behind. Sounds of a struggle come from the next alley over and Batman leaves the injured man to see if his prey has found more trouble.

Even Bruce isn't prepared for the sight that greets him as he turns the corner. His prisoner receives a quite thorough beating from another costumed vigilante. It takes Bruce only a second to process the image before him, and then he is back to Batman.

"Find your own creeps to beat on. This one is mine." Batman yells to the costumed figure.

Gotham's newest masked avenger turns and Batman glimpses the suit in full view, some sort of bird homage in theme. Batman lunges at the birdman to try and get him off balance and away from the gangbanger. The bird, in a martial arts-like motion, gets a leg between himself and Batman as he falls to the ground backward to flip the caped crusader over him and onto the pavement. Batman is back up, but not in time to deflect a punch coming directly toward him.

The punch stops short though and instead a hidden tube releases a burst of mist into Batman's face. He stumbles back feeling his eyes blur. Tear-gas, just enough to impair visibility in a foe. Batman feels for a bottle of saline rinse to cleanse his eyes, as he tries to make out what the birdman is doing.

Through bloodshot, tear filled eyes, he sees the costumed challenger activate something on the costume and rockets ignite from the boots. The bird's arms rise to reveal a rather large wingspan and, as the birdman takes flight, Batman watches in disbelief.

The saline rinse begins to clear the irritant out of Batman's eyes and he makes his way back to the wounded victim in the alley, only to find there has been yet another visitor to this skirmish tonight, a visitor who left as his only sign, a bullet hole in the forehead of the man Batman had worked to save.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gotham University stands as a beacon of higher learning in upper Gotham. The stone buildings, much like their usage, have evolved over their 207-year lives. The first building was a one-room mission, begun in 1797 by a Dominican monk who came to Gotham City to spread the ideals of Christianity to what was already considered a lost flock. He indentured himself to a farmer on the fertile, plains side of the river, now known as upper Gotham, while the main development of the city was occurring on the marshy side, with dirt and cobblestone being hauled in daily to build the levees and foundations of what would become the Narrows.

Friar Kieran Duncan came to Gotham to save the city from ex-communication from the church. He immigrated to America shortly after the colonies emancipated themselves from English rule. Duncan saw in America an ally to the Irish, but in need of spiritual guidance to dust off the protestant silt that lingered from English totalitarianism. Gotham, being the main port of the new world, was a good choice to establish a monastery from which to build a network of Catholic influence.

Friar Duncan worked the lands of the farmer to earn a half-acre plot to build a one-room mission from which to spread the gospel. By 1801, Friar Duncan was teaching a full day of classes built around Catholic sermons. A wealthy Gotham shipping merchant purchased more of the surrounding farmland in 1807 and donated it to the monk as a sign of faith and spiritual purity. It also allowed his children to attend free of charge. With the extra land, Duncan chose to expand and create a separate rectory and monastery from the classroom/sermon area. By the time Duncan passed away in 1837, the monastery had grown a small order of friars to continue his tradition. Like all things however, the mission of the Church of St. Thomas, changed with the passing of its founder. The Vatican became more interested in the strategic location of the church, in the heart of the burgeoning, pre-industrial Gotham City. Steamers were replacing sails in the harbor; the sound of motors began to echo through the cobblestone streets and buildings as steam and gasoline power were harnessed for interior and exterior uses. The Church saw St. Thomas as a Mecca from which to control the heart of America.

A new cathedral was built to exhibit the glory of the Catholic faith, as it towered above the Gothamites in their industrial progression. Gotham had expanded to both sides of the river and showed no signs of slowing as technology allowed for electric light and quicker travel. Surrounding buildings and land were slowly annexed by the church throughout the 19th century, until the campus included 19 buildings. Within these buildings a shift was occurring as the monastic order returned to its roots of teaching and gradually began adding secular components of botany, geology and mathematics to the class structure.

After the civil war, when industrialization took priority in Gotham, interest in the order of St. Thomas waned and gave birth to non-denominational classes in sciences, mathematics and philosophy. At first named St. Thomas College, a clean break from the Catholic forefathers led to the name Gotham University in 1899.

Today the remnants of the campus' history are reflected in stained glass windows that adorn the buildings. The state of the art interiors donated by billionaire philanthropists like Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, and Lex Luthor stand in stark contrast to the gothic architecture of the church.

Gotham University Hospital is the premiere medical research and treatment facility in the city. Utilizing a working hospital, the students are taught with a practicum unrivaled by many top educational facilities. The hospital draws prospective staff from an international pool of applicants, choosing only the most respected and credentialed to join the ranks of the medical elite.

GUH was at the forefront of the avian flu epidemic, receiving the first cases of the outbreak in their emergency room, the infectious disease unit quarantined the victims as the virology unit of the University began testing and working on a vaccine. Heading that research is Dr. Catherine Henner. At 29 years old, she is already one of the leading experts in infectious diseases in the country.

Bruce and Lucius enter the virology unit at GUH and are greeted by Henner in her usual abrupt manner. "This area is off limits to visitors, or can't you read the sign?"

Bruce almost looks offended that the stunning blonde, her shoulder length hair braided and slinking around her neck to hide discretely under her lab coat, doesn't recognize him. Her green eyes have a piercing stare, but not cold, aggressive and passionate about her work. Bruce offers a tentative introduction of himself and Lucius.

"I'm…."

"I know who you are Mr. Wayne. You're name is on all the crates we receive."

Lucius decides he may have better luck with the young doctor. "We came to see if Dr. Snood has arrived yet, Dr. Henner. Pardon our intrusion."

"I'm sorry Mr. Fox, we're a little short on time for chit chat with an infectious disease on the loose."

"Quite alright Doctor. No offense taken."

"Dr. Snood hasn't arrived yet, which is why I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment, since all of his personal effects arrived this morning. I'm trying to have his operations integrated with ours by the time he arrives, so hopefully we won't lose much time with setting up shop."

"We won't keep you then. Please let us know if we can help in any way."

"Thank you, and please don't take my demeanor today to mean you're unwelcome. I would enjoy speaking with you both about what we're accomplishing here. If you'd like…"

The boisterous entrance of Dr. Snood and his entourage interrupts Dr. Henner. The man is the center of his own universe, oblivious to the concept that there is anything but his arrival at the center of attention. An extremely fit man for his age, his large build and defined musculature obscures the fact that he is almost 60 years old. Only his gray hair signals that he is a man who lost his youth many years ago.

"Hello everyone, I'm Dr. Thomas Snood, I'll be running this show now. Philippe if you would take over the samples and recode them for our system as quickly as possible we can get under way. Mary, please locate the charts for every patient diagnosed with the strain, and have someone from GUH cross reference current patient charts for symptoms. I want a controlled environment here."

Dr. Henner rushes to Snood to introduce herself and regain control of her research facility. "Dr. Snood, I'm Dr. Catherine Henner, the lead virologist here at Gotham U. I'd like to work out how best to integrate our processes…"

"Dr. Henner, I'll be directing you on how the process works from now on. I appreciate you setting up my equipment." And with a stunned look on her face Dr. Henner watches Snood nonchalantly turn and walk to the center of the room. "I'll need an office."

Again Lucius takes the lead and attempts to broker relations. "Thomas, welcome back to Gotham. Dr. Henner has taken measures to ensure you and your team are well situated."

"Lucius Fox, I hear you're the man responsible for getting me back here. How have you been?" Snood's attitude is softened slightly by the recognition of an old friend.

"Actually, Dr. Snood, I'm the one responsible for funding your team here in Gotham. As the primary investor and Trustee of the University, I hope you will consider Dr. Henner's findings over the last 6 weeks of this outbreak." Bruce assumes that his status will somehow sway Snood's perspective on his role in this endeavor.

"Ah, then you would be Bruce Wayne. I knew you're father, he was a good surgeon. Let me say this as delicately as I can. I appreciate your bankroll and I know you're good for the money. However, I was hired to do a job, and no one, including you, will tell me how to do that job."

Lucius attempts once more to ease the mounting tension in the room. "Thomas, perhaps we can discuss the arrangements of this project after you get settled in from the trip…"

"No time for that Lucius. We have an outbreak of a new strain of Avian flu here Gentlemen and Lady. H6TX, fatal in 92 of infected patients. This is not your garden-variety bird flu we are dealing with; this is a stalker and predator. I have evidence that it may have reached a phase 6 pathogenic level. I've spoken to the CDC and based on my previous research here and more recent findings at Met Tech, I'm authorized to begin human trials of a test vaccine developed for the H5N1 strain. Paul, please escort these gentlemen from the lab area. Dr. Henner, I need you to execute these clean room protocols to prepare for testing."

Snood's associate shows Bruce and Lucius to the exit, while Catherine stands defeated with her task list from Dr. Snood. Once outside the room, Bruce questions the value of bringing in Snood if it disrupts the previous teams operations. Lucius is obviously disappointed in his former mentor's attitude, but reassures Bruce of Snood's immense list of qualifications and that a giant step is being taken by moving to human trials of a vaccine. The end of the epidemic could be in sight.

"There is one more thing I need to ask you Lucius. Were there any other prototypes of the JPL made?"

"No, it was decommissioned immediately and moved to the stockroom, why?"

"I saw one the other night, or something that was too similar to be a coincidence. What about Luthorcorp, would they have a similar design?"

"It's unlikely, they focus more on weaponry. I'll look into it."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Valhalla was a disco club in the seventies, boiling over in illicit drugs and sensuality. Over the years, its clientele mellowed into Yuppies during the eighties and New Age martini drinkers during the nineties. Today, Valhalla is a quiet tavern-like atmosphere where the lonely and downtrodden go to do their drinking in solitude. Nine out of ten barstools are the regulars, alcoholics who no longer have to tell the bartenders what their drink of choice is.

The tenth barstool holds a patron well on her way to inebriation. Her blonde hair let out, it flows over her shoulders, with just a hint of tangling from being bound for hours on end while at work. Catherine Henner sits in silence with her glass, the defeat of the day's events worn heavily on her face and in her eyes.

Like most professions, women doctors must work harder to earn their positions and respect from colleagues. To become a Senior Virology Researcher at a prestigious institution like GUH at the age of 29, the woman must not only be extraordinary, but willing to sacrifice much of the frivolity of early adulthood.

Catherine spent her early twenties doubling course loads in undergraduate and graduate schools, and interning at Hub City General Hospital's ER to experience the worst of what urban living can produce. At 25 she earned a spot on the Gotham University Research team traveling to Africa to study infectious diseases. Upon her return, she was offered a full time position with the University Hospital. In the course of one day, it seems all her work and determination was stripped away by one misogynistic egoist.

Lost in her thoughts, she doesn't notice another customer take the stool next to her.

"I'll have what she's having." Bruce Wayne motions to the bartender, who picks up a bottle of bourbon and pours it straight for the billionaire. "Wild Turkey, straight up. And here I thought you might be uptight."

Catherine least expected to see Bruce in a place like this. "Well, Thanksgiving is in two weeks, I thought I'd get into the holiday spirit."

"I heard you might be here after a bad day."

"It certainly wasn't one of my best."

Bruce consoles the doctor as best he can, knowing it was his call to bring in Snood. Catherine knows Bruce had Gotham's best interest at heart, though his good intentions have left a painful bruise on her own ego. The pair talks for hours, Catherine outpacing Bruce in drinks. Bruce asks about her past, trying to understand the passion that drives this woman to excel in her field. She talks of her past with the Africa expedition and horror stories from the Hub City ER, with gang warfare and drug addicts.

But, it is her revelation of a much more personal event in her life that really peaks Bruce's interest.

"At one point, while I was still an undergrad med student, I thought I was going to have to give up and change majors."

"Why? You don't strike me as the type that walks away from a challenge."

"No, it wasn't that. I became pregnant at 21. The guy freaked out and disappeared of course, even transferred colleges to get away from us. I thought about the options. I couldn't get an abortion; that would contradict my goal of saving lives. Adoption didn't seem fair to bring a child into the world only to abandon it. The third choice was to sacrifice my career aspirations, but I was too stubborn for that. So, I pushed on, determined to do it all. When my daughter was born, I learned that she had SCID, severe combined immunodeficiency. Do you know what that is, Bruce?"

"More commonly known as bubble boy disease. But it is treatable these days if caught early enough, right?"

"Some strains are; the more rare ones aren't. She was born with a mutated strain that isn't treatable yet. She's never left the hospital."

"Is that why you went into virology?"

"Just an irony. I'd already decided to pursue this specialty. The University allows me to work after hours on her case. I'm sure Snood won't allow that in his research facility."

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen, Catherine."

An awkward silence falls between the two. Certainly Bruce hadn't intended to learn this much about the doctor when he showed up here to smooth over the events of the day. Catherine suddenly became aware how much her guard was lowered from the alcohol, and now feels more vulnerable than she would like with someone whose intentions aren't exactly apparent.

"Well, I told you my secret, let's hear one of yours to make this uncomfortable for both of us."

"I'm afraid mine aren't nearly as interesting."

"Then I guess I need to go sleep this off and hope I drank enough to forget our conversation."

"Or we could try this conversation thing again tomorrow night, maybe over dinner and a little less bourbon?"

"Why wait until then? We could try breakfast instead."

The insinuation is not lost on Bruce; he pays the tab and the couple exits the bar together.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Every day for the past 2 weeks, Bruce has visited Gotham University's Infectious Research Department. It is now the day before Thanksgiving but unlike most days, Bruce arrives before lunchtime.

Keeping a watchful eye on Dr. Snood is one reason for his daily stopovers, but more of his time is spent with Catherine Henner. He is fascinated by the paradox of this woman. Prim and proper scientist during the day, she is unreserved and uninhibited after work hours. Bruce thought the night at the bar was an unprecedented act of behavior for the doctor, brought on by the steady flow of alcohol and repressed emotional response to the sordid events of that particular day. He has come to learn that this woman has an untamed wildness to her. In the past two weeks, Bruce has observed her spend time at several of the most notorious nightclubs and ill reputed bars the city has to offer, sometimes as her accompaniment, other times shadowing her as Batman. Each night brings a visit to a different locale, with each ending well past midnight. Yet the following morning, she is always at work on time, never a tell tale sign of the binge partying from the night before.

Bruce often wonders how she can keep such a lifestyle when he knows full well the exhaustion of leading a double life. Perhaps it is this kindred duality that tantalizes Bruce's curiosity about the woman and drives him to drop in unannounced each day to see this enigmatic female in her daytime role.

Still, at the back of his mind, Bruce occasionally thinks back to the night in the bar and the impromptu revelation that Henner has a daughter in Hub City trapped in a sterile, isolated quarantine, awaiting a medical miracle to cure her strain of SCID. Catherine had said the University allows her to work on her daughter's case, but Bruce cannot recall once seeing Catherine stay after hours to further the research into her daughter's disease.

Bruce, true to his word, made certain the Provost and Dean of the GU School of Medicine didn't acquiesce to Snood in the matter of allowing Catherine to pursue her daughter's health. If that wasn't the reason for her behavior, what was? Bruce was determined to understand what goes on in the mind of this enigmatic woman.

"Well, Mr. Wayne, you're much earlier than usual. Either you feel the need to impose more of your corporate presence on me or you aren't interested in the status of my research at all." Snood makes a knowing glance toward Catherine.

"A bit of both you might say, Dr. Snood. May I see this morning's results?" Snood hands the daily reactionary printouts to Bruce who looks over the results.

Catherine has spent the morning encoding the results into a computer simulation to explore how each component of the test agents impact the strain of the avian flu. "What you are seeing in that printout is fairly remarkable. Snood may be one of the most arrogant pricks I've ever met, but at least he can back it up. His H5N1 vaccine was right on the money for that strain. It even works on several other strains."

"But not H6TX. He can identify which parts of the virus are resistant to the test samples?"

"Yes, and he's engineered the vaccine to be easily reformulated to increase its immunization potential so that he could add on to it to create a universal antigen."

"How can he rework the vaccine that quickly?"

"DNA and Recombinant Vectors. He's been working on virology from a genetic level for the last several years and is using nucleotide decoding to look at the base materials of the strains. It's brilliant."

"How effective is it?"

"It's like being Mother Nature, Bruce. With that knowledge of a virus, you can synthesize antiviruses, pre-birth immunized Cytocells; you could even manufacture your own strains of a virus."

"Such as for germ warfare?"

"That's a little unethical, Bruce. I meant for research. Take the H6TX strain for example. It shows elements of H5N1, but also several other strains and most significantly, some codons bear resemblance to autoimmune disorders."

"Okay, you're losing me Catherine."

"Sorry, what it means is that by looking at the genomes and structure of one illness, it may hold clues to curing dozens of others with similar genetic markers."

"And Snood discovered this?"

"No, not all of it. Most research facilities have been looking at the cellular level of diseases. My team was even tagging the genetic markers of the H6TX strain prior to Snood's arrival, but we weren't anywhere as close to breaking down and recombining the codes as he is."

"Well at least he's worth his asking price then. Look, I have a meeting with the new assistant District Attorney, Harvey Dent, for lunch today but I'd like for you to come to my house for Thanksgiving tomorrow."

"I'd like that Bruce."

"Great. I'll have Alfred send a car for you tomorrow at your apartment."

"Actually, pick me up here. I was going to use some of the genetics equipment to look at Isabelle's SCID analyses. Since I can't be there with her for the holiday."

Bruce nods, thinking maybe she isn't the enigma he imagined all along. Perhaps she was just a woman trying to balance a high-pressure career and the suffering of a grief stricken mother with a way to vent the pent up frustration and anxiety.

As Bruce and Catherine finish making their plans for the following day, Snood looks at his watch and rushes to leave the room with a folder. Bruce notices him whisper to a technician on the way out.

Seconds after Snood leaves the room, a security guard wheels in a cart containing an engorged roast turkey with a buffet of side dishes filling the trays. Henner assumes the guard is in the wrong place and attempts to guide him to wherever he is supposed to be.

"Can I help you?"

"Where do you want the food?"

"The food? I think you have the wrong department."

The Guard checks the delivery sheet. "Virology Department. Gotham University Hospital. Happy Holiday's from Wayne Enterprises."

This peaks Bruce's interest, as he did not authorize a delivery of this sort. "Did you say Wayne Enterprises?"

Before anyone has a chance to look at the sheet again, the turkey explodes, rocking the lab and destroying data and specimens while hurling technicians into the walls. The fire alarms and safety measures are in place immediately as air vents seal to protect the main hospital from virulent toxins, fire foam sprays from the ceiling to smother the fire and absorb pathogenic materials that escaped from containers during the blast. Bruce looks up from the floor where he landed. Smoke clouds the room, blurring the images of technicians running, some in panic, and some to initiate safety measures.

Bruce looks for Catherine, but doesn't see her. Fire erupts from one of the machines near the detonation point and startles and already panic stricken room. Catherine runs back in to the lab with a fire extinguisher and quickly shouts orders to staff to try to secure the area to avoid personnel injuries. There is no doubt to anyone that the research is corrupted. Specimens have been lost; data files destroyed. The setback is incalculable at the moment.

Bruce runs to Catherine, and looks her over for injury.

"Are you hurt?"

She is covered in exploded food, mostly, and soot from the trapped smoke. "I don't know. I don't think so. I notified a containment team. Where's Snood."

"He left just before…" Bruce stops as he realizes the impeccable timing and the rushed exit the doctor made just prior to the delivery. "I'll find Snood, you get cleaned up and coordinate the salvage here."

Bruce runs from the lab area to the office used by Snood, only to find it in disarray, and Snood nowhere in sight.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Batman glides silently across the river into The Narrows on a Jet Ski board, surfing across the strait as the watercraft's mini turbine on the underside of the board propels its rider effortlessly through the mist rising from the water into the cool night air.

This is not the first destination for the caped crusader this night. His journey began at the GUH lab where, earlier that day, Bruce Wayne was caught in the explosion that destroyed the work being done by the renowned Dr. Thomas Snood to eradicate the avian flu epidemic in Gotham.

It now appears to Batman that Snood has masterminded this whole plot with his mysterious disappearance from the building minutes before the bomb arrived.

After scouring the scorched lab area, Batman shuffled through Snood's ransacked office, looking for clues as to his whereabouts. Two items of interest came from this search, a slip of paper from Gotham Public Library with the catalog numbers 512.86J and a message pad note from the department administrative assistant in the hospital morgue.

A quick search in a hospital directory narrowed the list of who from the morgue may have called Snood that day. The hospital employs 4 daytime staff members in the morgue: a forensic anthropologist named Bryan Hiller, Arthur Kemp, an anatomic pathologist, and two dieners, Lazlo Ten and Yuri Goeren. Batman scrawled the names into a notepad and paid a visit to the morgue to find which of the four had tried to contact Snood and why.

Luckily the night shift at the morgue in GUH consists of one person, a part-time second year med student from the university, more interested in spending his nights brown-nosing with the surgeons and flirting with nurses than performing job duties he equated to be little more than a babysitting position. The unattended area was an open invitation for Batman to find more information on the disappearance of Snood. Looking over the administrative desk, Batman noted that only three of the full time staff was in that day. Picking the three locks on the staff lockers took only seconds and finding what he needed was a stroke of luck. In Arthur Kemp's locker was a list of names, all victims of the avian flu. A handwritten note was scribbled at the top of the list.

_Question Snood about disappearances._

Also inside Kemp's locker was a notice from Metropolis Institute of Technology regarding an upcoming alumni event. Kemp must have known Snood at MIT. Perhaps it was this repartee that led Kemp to contact Snood over one of his GUH co-workers. It seemed this cryptic list was enough to panic Snood into staging a distraction for his escape.

Batman wanted answers and this list seemed a good starting point. Finding the cadaver whose name led the list, Batman pulled open the refrigeration unit and slid out the tray holding the corpse. The body wasn't missing, so to what disappearance did the list refer?

Batman looked over the chart for the victim to see what post mortem procedures had been enacted. The body was scheduled for release to a funeral parlor the next day. Each name on the list produced a stored cadaver awaiting release to the victims' families. Something was apparently amiss here in the morgue, but without Snood or Kemp, the explanation would have to wait, unless the library held the answer.

The Gotham Public Library is home to the largest collection of books in North America.

It stands as a bastion of literature and knowledge in a city that shows little interest in such things. The alarm system at the library is as antiquated as its contents. Perimeter alarms at the windows and doors secure the facility, but once inside, the alarm system is rendered useless with its lack of motion sensors, and the easiest way around the alarm network is under it. The utility room of the library extends down to meet the sewer, and underground pipelines of water, fiber optics, and electricity that power the mammoth building. A door with nothing more than an industrial deadbolt is all that stands between the library and the Department of Public Works service tunnel. On occasion, Batman has used this entrance for late night research in the library's racks.

Tonight his visit was to find the book that belonged to the discarded card catalog number in Snood's trash. The computer database lists three materials with the call number of 512.86J, a Hardy Boys novel in the fiction section, a Jung treatise in philosophy, and a back issue of the American Journal of Medicine in the reference section.

Choosing the medical journal has led Batman back here to The Narrows. That month's edition of the journal featured an article on genetic research of diseases using deceased victims whose organs contained inactive genetic remnants of virulent agents.

If Snood were using the avian flu to further his study of the genetics of disease, the best breeding ground in Gotham would be The Narrows. Given that Batman encountered a bird-like costumed figure there as well, it seemed likely he may find the doctor nearby where he first encountered the bird-man.

On the rooftops of the narrows, Batman once again searches for sights and sounds of illicit activity. Peering down into the alleyway where the costumed bandit escaped after dousing Batman with tear gas, there is an eerie silence, reminiscent of the night Rachel disappeared.

Attuning the amplified ear inside the cowl of his suit Batman hears what sounds like captives struggling to get loose. Following the sound leads Batman to an abandoned apartment building deep in the slums.

Batman enters the building through the roof service entrance, the aging building creaking and moaning with each step. The sound of prisoners beating against doors and walls echoes as Batman descends into the building. The Dark Knight pulls two throwing stars from his belt and places a hand on the knob of the stairwell door.

Kicking the door open, Batman is greeted by the sight of dozens of wild turkeys filling the room, flapping and pecking to gain their freedom. Batman pulls a miniature blow gun from his belt and inserts a small tranquilizer dart, then launches it into the closest fowl. In seconds, the bird drops unconscious and the masked detective pulls an empty syringe to draw blood from the animal.

Closing the door behind him to keep the birds locked in, Batman moves down the stairwell to the next floor. Behind the door lies a makeshift laboratory, with samples lining the wall and scientific formulas covering the chalkboard. Slumped in the corner is Dr. Snood, surrounded by empty syringes of "Blis/z".

Batman rushes to the Dr. to revive him for answers. "Dr. Snood. Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?"

The doctor is unresponsive save for the foaming drool oozing from the corner of his mouth. Batman places smelling salts under Snood's nose, pulls open one eyelid then the other to shine light into the pupils. They dilate as the first gurgles of consciousness return to the doctor.

A slurry phrase is all he can muster when his eyes refocus on the figure in front of him. "Drugs...me...until...I work."

"What are you working on?" Snood begins to drift out again, until Batman shakes him. "Are you working alone? What's missing from the hospital morgue?"

"Organs" is all the man can say before slumping over again.

Batman will get no more answers until he sobers the man. Raising him to his feet, he leans Snood against the wall to check for weapons or concealed devises. As he looks beneath the doctor's lab coat, an arrow whizzes by his cowl and pierces the trachea of Dr. Snood, pinning him to the wall. Blood quickly slithers into the lungs of the gasping professor. He tries to speak a word with his last breath, but the air is no longer there as he drowns quietly.

Batman spins to face the attacker; standing across the room with crossbow in hand is the mysterious bird-man. Tiring of his adversary's surprise entrances, Batman throws a SMART bomb to the outer wall of the building. Detonating upon impact, it blows out a section of the wall to expose the night sky over The Narrows. Using the distraction to his advantage, Batman launches a throwing star at his opponent's hands, forcing him to drop the crossbow.

Batman lunges toward the murderer to seize his chance for hand-to-hand combat. He lands a hook to the beaked cowl of the bird-man, who counters with a sweep kick. As soon as Batman hits the ground, his attacker slams his foot into Batman's throat to hold him down. The leverage and the well-muscled legs have the advantage over the caped crusader.

Thinking quickly, Batman pulls his harpoon gun from his belt and fires out the hole in the wall to the building across the street. Hearing the harpoon hit, he doesn't wait to see if it has a strong hold, but clamps it into his belt and hits the retract button, grabbing the leg of his opponent. As Batman is dragged through the opening, he pulls his assailant with him into the night.

The weight is too great, however, and the line snaps, sending both hurtling toward the street below. With no time to slow their falls, both make the two-story fall to the pavement, landing in the garbage-laden alley below. Battered but unbroken, Batman is up on his feet to meet the bird-man as he uses a fire escape ladder to pull himself up. The bird suit is not holding up well. The left wing is ripped in half, while blood trickles from the right leg. Holding to the fire escape for support, the bird-man tries to block the moves from a second winded Batman, but can't keep up with one hand holding to the rail.

The bird-man pulls his final trick, a vial of nitric acid, and douses the chest armor of the Dark Knight. It immediately begins to burn through the bi-weave Kevlar. Batman backs away, attempting to unhook the torso piece to remove it before the acid reaches his skin. As he pulls the top of the suit off, the injured bird-man limps off to safety.

Unprotected from attack, and with his armor being dissolved by the acid, Batman searches for a water supply to dilute the effects of the agent. An outdoor water faucet becomes his only hope to salvage his suit. He runs the water over the torso plate to rinse the acid away. The ground sizzles as the acid mixes with water and boils as it evaporates.

As Batman makes his way back across the river to the Tumbler holding the damaged chest armor of the suit, he checks his belt to make sure the vial of blood from the turkey is undamaged. Tossing the body armor into the vehicle, and climbing in, he pushes a button on the dashboard as the cockpit closes. A computerized voice fills the chamber inside the super-car.

_Secure line to Lucius Fox._

"Lucius, I'm going to need a new suit."

Batman drives away knowing full well that this night is far from over even as the sun begins to rise. The blood he carries in that vial may be the source of the avian flu and the key to curing it. The only person left to unlock its potential is Dr. Catherine Henner.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Bruce has traded his damaged bat suit for civilian clothes as Alfred drives him to the GUH campus to track down Dr. Henner. He hasn't slept yet since his battle in the early morning hours in The Narrows as he tries to close in on the identity of this bird-man that scours the dead to harvest for his own purposes. Bruce is lost in his thoughts of the past two weeks events when Alfred breaks the silence.

"It would stand to reason, sir, that the Scavenger is employed by Gotham University Hospital."

"The Scavenger?"

"I figured your arch nemesis couldn't go unnamed, and since he isn't clamoring to claim one for himself, I took the liberty."

Bruce shrugs off the achy stiffness setting into his joints and muscles from the grueling battle a few hours before. It doesn't go unnoticed by the dutiful butler.

"Are you quite sure, Master Bruce, that this can't wait until after you've rested?"

"I'm sure Alfred. I need Catherine's help if I'm going to find the carrier source and take down this murderer."

The Rolls Royce town car pulls into the deserted GUH campus as the Thanksgiving morning crispness gives way to a bright sunny sky. Bruce can only hope his hunch about Catherine manically working through the night on her daughter's case is right and she will be found in the lab. Oddly, he realized once in the car with Alfred that he has never seen Catherine entering or leaving her apartment building.

Gotham University Hospital has only a skeleton crew in the main units. Walking through the maze of hallways that lead to the Infectious Disease Research wing, Bruce revels in the silence of the building as it reminds him of the solace he finds in the silent nights upon Gotham rooftops.

Bruce enters the decimated remains of the avian flu research lab, looking for signs of life from anyone looking to escape the early morning holiday experience.

He makes his way through the rear door to a hallway lined with offices, all darkened while their respective owners are away for the day. But he knows Catherine won't be found in an office anyway. She will be in the lab, her natural environment, pushing the limits of the technology at her disposal with analyses and tests.

The makeshift lab is far less sophisticated than its predecessor. The aesthetic streamlining of the set up has been traded for a utilitarian sterility of function. Connector cables sprout in various directions from antiquated machinery, long past their prime. Adapters and couplers bond incompatible components to create a roughhewn network with which to continue the work.

Slumped at a desk is the blonde doctor, wearing a snug exercise suit.

"Catherine?"

She awakes startled by Bruce's voice.

"Oh Bruce, sorry for jumping but I was dreaming. I guess my morning kickboxing class was a little rougher than I thought."

"Kickboxing?" Bruce wonders how she manages to find the time or energy to fit in yet another activity.

"I find a morning class helps channel my energy and concentration to be more productive during the day. Did I oversleep? Is it time for Thanksgiving dinner already?"

"No. I came early. I have something I need you to analyze….if you're not too busy with your own…?

She cuts him off, "No, I would be glad to. What is it?"

Bruce produces the vial of blood from the turkey in the apartment building. He hands it to Dr. Henner.

"I need to know if this blood is infected with the avian flu strain."

Catherine pulls latex gloves from a box nearby and proceeds to test droplets to see if the markers appear. Bruce's cell phone rings; looking at the caller I.D., he recognizes it as Lucius.

"I have to take this call, do you mind?"

"No not at all." Catherine uses this opportunity to tidy her disheveled look into something less embarrassing.

Bruce answers the call and nonchalantly steps out of earshot of Catherine to speak with Lucius. Even so, the pair knows they must choose their words carefully on an unsecured line.

"Lucius, did you get my message from earlier?"

"Yes I did. We'll put the tailors to work right away. I think they have some new ideas they'd like to try. I was surprised when Alfred told me you were available on your cell at this time of day."

"One of my meetings ran late."

"I also have information on the item from the stockroom that you inquired about. There was a second set of them produced."

"What happened to them?"

"They were donated to Gotham University."

"I'm going to need employee records for the morgue staff at GUH."

"I'll have them on your desk in an hour."

Catherine is finishing the tests as Bruce makes his request to Lucius. As the centrifuge spinner ends its cycle, the digital analyzer beeps its answer to the doctor. The results on the screen drain the color instantly from Catherine's face.

"Catherine, I have to drop by my office for some paperwork, but I'll be back…"

Bruce doesn't get the chance to finish his sentence as he turns around to face Catherine. His face meets her foot, sending him tumbling backward to the floor. The effort is all Henner can spare and she collapses as well. The doctor pulls herself up from the floor and limps over to the disoriented billionaire.

"Cath…." She clamps her foot into his throat to keep him down and in that instant, Bruce no longer needs to read the files at his office.

"Isn't the irony driving you crazy? We spent our days helping each other, only to cause quite a bit of trouble for one another at night."

The only option left to Bruce without his utility belt is to press his thumb into her right leg where The Scavenger was bleeding the night before. Henner shrieks in pain and loses her footing, her exhausted body giving out once again.

Bruce staggers to his feet, tensing his muscles to fight past the pain and bruises, to spar once again with this deadly adversary. They have fought each other enough over the past two weeks to know that neither is at full strength, and the playing field is evened without the gadgetry of their suits.

Catherine is wild with rage, partly due to being discovered for who she really is, but also because the vigilante hero of Gotham that has plagued her efforts over the last few weeks has turned out to be a man she genuinely had begun to care about. The betrayal has driven her over the edge and she can only vent the frustration and grief by channeling her focus into defeating Bruce Wayne in this fight and reclaiming her dignity as his arch nemesis and spurned lover.

Her graceful, well-executed kickboxing style has given way to an unbridled, dissociated conglomeration of kicks, punches, scratching and screaming. The onslaught proves effective at first, gouging Bruce's neck and ripping his shirt.

His instinct takes over and he begins to block her flailing arms, allowing him to land an offensive blow to her nose, reeling her back as blood flows from her nostrils. Henner runs into the hallway that leads back to the ruined lab. Bruce follows to catch the murderess before she can encounter other hospital staff.

In doing so, he lands squarely into the trap she has set for him. The clean room protocols given to her by Dr. Snood were disengaged to allow for more chaos and destruction after the explosion. Overriding her own programming, Henner sets the safety measures in effect now, locking down the destroyed lab in quarantine as she escapes through the quickly closing doorway. Bruce is trapped, with Dr. Henner on her way to freedom.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Wayne Manor has stood on the outskirts of Gotham for one hundred thirty eight years. Built by Bruce's Great Great Grandfather, Stanton Wayne, after his tenure as Colonel for the Union Army in the Civil War under the command of Brigadier General Gershom Mott. Colonel Wayne led the 5th New Jersey Volunteers in the 2nd Battle of Bull Run in 1862, and served as Brevetted Brigadier General in the Battle of Chantilly after the loss of Generals Kearny and Stevens.

The horrors of a nation at war created a bitter and hardened veteran upon his return to New Jersey after the war. Stanton Wayne moved north to the thriving shipping port of Gotham and invested his holdings in the merchant industry. Proving shrewd at exporting, he founded Wayne Mercantile Import/Export, the precursor to the modern day Wayne Enterprises.

As his fortune grew, he became more reclusive. Sequestering away in the estate house he built outside the city, he sold his row home in Gotham and began building a fortified arsenal in the caverns that lay beneath the mansion. Adamant that the resolve of the Civil War was only temporary and that the South would avenge its defeat and humiliation by showering bloodshed and anarchy upon the greatest cities of the North, Stanton stockpiled weaponry, valuables and heirlooms in his great estate to protect them from the inevitable destruction they would incur at less secure facilities. The eccentricity of this aging businessman extended to equipping his estate with armored shutters that could be activated from a centralized location to seal the manor house and repel attackers.

Four Generations later, another Wayne has fortified the caverns under the mansion into an arsenal of a different sort. Bruce examines the damaged bat suit to see if it has one final night's worth of battle left to it. Alfred, always the steadfast guardian, implores Bruce to find a new strategy.

"Master Bruce, the armor is in utter disrepair, you cannot face her like that."

"I can't give her more time Alfred. Her suit isn't in any better shape, so we're evenly matched."

"How will you find her? Surely, she has gone into hiding by now."

Bruce knows his enemy will eventually come looking for him if he doesn't take the fight to her. He is her unfinished business now that they know the other's identity.

"I won't have to find her. I'll just make sure she knows where she can find me. Did you get the file I requested?"

Alfred pulls a brown legal file from the tray of food he brought down to the cave for his employer before he journeys into another long night of stalking the rooftops of the dark city. Bruce reads through the pages, hoping to glean something from them that might aid him when he encounters The Scavenger.

Between pages, Bruce stirs a pasty mixture. Alfred diligently crushes chlorine tablets with a mortar and pestle, as Bruce adds water to his pasty, mud like compound. A wary look from Alfred gives pause to the young billionaire as he takes the crushed chlorine from his butler.

"Relax Alfred, I did take Chemistry before I left college."

Bruce pours the powdered chlorine into his watery slime and mixes the contents vigorously. Then using a brush, he paints the remnants of his suit with the substance. Not waiting for it to dry, he puts on the pieces of his suit as best as they will fit in their damaged and slippery state.

As he loads a portable tank of the slimy concoction into the passenger seat of the Tumbler, he reminds Alfred to contact Lucius to work on the back end of the plan, and he drives off into the night.

Batman heads straight for The Narrows. With no time to waste he pulls into a long, secluded alley, where the Tumbler blends into the darkness of the night. Putting on a respirator and entering the building which houses Henner's turkeys, Batman quickly makes his way to the roosting floor of the abandoned incubator. Henner has moved her equipment, but hasn't had the opportunity to get the birds. Batman has come with the final solution to that problem. He sets charges at each corner of the building and in the center to bring the entire structure down, burying the disease in a fiery grave of concrete.

Once the last charge is set, Batman launches from the window, gliding across a cable to an adjacent roof. At the touch of a remote, the building behind him erupts into a flaming tower, killing the viral toxins within.

The wail of grief echoes through the alleys as Catherine Henner sees her building engulfed in flame and crashing down in a shroud of concrete dust.

"My birds! What have you done to my birds?"

The Scavenger climbs up the fire escape to meet Batman in the smoke and dust of her previous hideout. Her suit is ripping at the seams; not as well made as Batman's, gashes and torn stitching expose her bandaging from the previous fights with the Dark Knight. Her blonde locks spiral out from under her helmet, from which the beak has been removed to allow her nose and small ruby lips to kiss the night air.

"I've destroyed your living virus cultures and saved the city Catherine. It's over."

"You have no idea what I was trying to accomplish here."

"You wanted to save Isabelle by developing an immunity booster genome through manipulating diseased human organs."

Henner is shocked that Bruce knows her goal and still stands against her. "How could you destroy my work if you knew how important it is. People will never get sick again if I can create a nucleotide chain that is resistant to viruses and bacteria."

"People will always get sick Catherine. We can't foresee every strain of disease that will ever exist. You want to save your daughter, but this isn't the way. Thousands more would have died if this continued."

The adversaries stand ready to attack, both still fatigued from lack of sleep since the night before. Neither wants to move against the other, their feelings for one another restraining the urge to subdue their enemy. Batman attempts to reason with Catherine, urging her to surrender.

"We can still work to help Isabelle. I've spoken to Dr. Soto about moving her to Gotham University and setting up an immunodeficiency research unit. We could use your help and research data. All you have to do is help me end this avian flu outbreak."

Catherine is unsure of what to do. In front of her, one of the most powerful and wealthy industrialists in the world is offering her a chance to save her daughter, but at what cost. She's killed hundreds of Gotham's citizens with her bioengineered disease and taken the life of one the nation's most respected genetic researchers in an attempt to hide her secret research. Atoning for these crimes will take more than an apology and cooperation in ending the flu epidemic.

Bruce is certain that Catherine would have developed a vaccine to inoculate herself against the flu. He is also well aware that between the explosion in the lab and his close proximity to the turkeys the other night he has been exposed to the plague himself.

"Bruce, what you're asking of me will put me in prison for years. I will lose Isabelle anyway."

"There are alternatives. You're knowledge of biological research could be used as a bargaining chip for supervised probation. There is always a choice Catherine."

Bruce isn't sure if his words are reaching her. She may be too far lost in her quest to create the perfect life for her daughter and herself to consider whomever else gets hurt in the process.

"I want to believe you Bruce, but this can't have a happy ending. I've done too much and Isabelle could never survive a move across the country like that. I am her only hope, and I can't let you stand in my way. It takes 28 days for the virus to incubate inside the body. The odds are that you've already been infected, but just to make sure…"

She charges Batman as she pulls a capsule of the virus and crushes it between her gloves, soaking them with a liquid form of the virus. Batman throws his cape over his shoulder and holds up a hose attached to the portable tank strapped to his back. Flipping a switch, the slimy liquid compound he mixed in the cave shoots onto Catherine as she slips to the ground in a puddle of the ooze.

"What the hell did you cover me with?"

"Interestingly Catherine, bat guano has a high concentration of ammonia and nitrates that, when immersed in a continuously flowing water source such as an underground river, leaves an ammonia and nitrate enriched sediment. By mixing this with powdered swimming pool chlorine, I was able to create a chloramine disinfectant paste that should be concentrated enough to kill the virus cells."

"You knew I'd try to infect you?"

"I knew you were desperate to avoid capture. I wasn't taking chances."

"You haven't caught me yet, Bruce."

Catherine swings her leg at Batman, but he catches it upon impact. She twists to get her other leg in position to wrap around his waist and pulls him to the ground. She jumps up to try to outrun the caped avenger, but he pulls his harpoon gun and shoots the cable between her feet, tripping her back to the roof floor.

Her leg wound is reopened as she slides across the gravel roof. Grasping her leg in pain, blood seeps from between her fingers. Batman walks over to the wounded villain with handcuffs, but as he bends to grab her arms, Catherine rolls on her back and kicks her coiled legs into the broken chest plate of the masked hero, sending him hurtling backward on the roof. Catherine staggers to her feet and kicks a rusted pipe vent, breaking it off. Grabbing the broken piece she races toward a winded Bruce. Bruce manages to get a foot in the air to block the first swing of the pipe, as she swings wildly to try to cut or smash through the war-ravaged suit.

Unable to get an advantage while on his back, Bruce activates a button on his belt, and the JPL boots ignite, throwing flames onto Catherine's suit. The feathered wings and exposed fabric underlayment that connect the latex padding of her suit catches fire instantly, engulfing Catherine. As the fire burns through the suit and makes first contact with her skin, Catherine screams while trying to drop and smother the flames.

Batman tears off his cape and covers her, patting out the few remaining flames. When the fire is out, he stands and removes the remainder of his cowl.

"I'm sorry it ends this way, Catherine."

In the silence of the night a motionless Catherine Henner lays under Batman's cape, and only the faint sound of a muffled sobbing can be heard.


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue

December 21st in Gotham is a bleak day. The chill of winter has set into the city and gray clouds veil the sun.

Inside Gotham University, Lucius Fox delivers the news to Bruce that his blood test has come back negative for the avian flu, as did the tests for the other lab workers caught in the explosion the month before. The vaccine Catherine manufactured was effective in stopping the spread of the H6TX strain of the avian flu.

Bruce leads Lucius into a room with a large window overlooking a sterile room with one lone resident. The young girl is playing with dolls on the floor, when Bruce speaks to her through an intercom.

"Hello Isabelle, my name is Bruce Wayne. I know your mother."

The girl is delighted at the mention of her mother, whom she hasn't seen in over a year. Bruce spends a few minutes talking with the girl about how they are going to help her, the important research findings her mother added to the project and what she would like for Christmas.

As he leaves her playing with her toys, Bruce takes Lucius back into the hallway of the hospital.

"Thank you for setting this up Lucius."

"I believe you deserve the credit this time. That girl will owe her life to you for funding this project. You've given her a chance."

"Catherine's research will give her a chance. I'm just making sure Isabelle isn't forgotten. Does Catherine know she's here?"

"I believe that might be the only thing keeping Dr. Henner alive. Her injuries were quite severe. It will be a miracle if she ever gets to visit the girl."

"It's Christmas Lucius, no better time for miracles."

"Bruce, the chances…"

"But there is a chance Lucius, a chance that a mother and daughter might someday be able to see each other without something between them, and that's all that matters."

Bruce's cell phone rings, checking the caller ID, he recognizes the number as belonging to the city government offices.

"Bruce, it's Harvey Dent. I have some news for you. The police have found Rachel Dawes' body."

The news hits Bruce harder than his nightly fights as the caped crusader.

"I would like you to identify the body, but I have to warn you, her face has been disfigured."

"How?"

"She's been cut from the corners of her mouth to her ears."

"How was she killed?"

"Toxicology reports show large quantities of 'blis/z'; it appears she was bound and injected with the stuff."

"I'll meet you at the Medical Examiner's office."

Bruce pauses a moment after the call to remember the woman he sought to protect that night in The Narrows. He snaps back to his present reality and turns to his friend.

"Have the tailors wrap up my wardrobe. I'll meet you at the stockroom later to pick it up along with a few other items."

Bruce walks away to see a friend to whom he owes a promise. There is a drug designer in Gotham who is about to meet Batman.

THE END


	13. Disclaimer

Author's soliloquy: Because I live a menial, entry level life and am still paying for the clothes I'm wearing at a 23.99 percent interest rate, I have to add to this story that I do not own Gotham City, Batman, bi-weave Kevlar suits, memory cloth or any other stuff that existed in the movies or comics or TV shows or toy stores or…. you get the point. So, if you do own these things or are a relative of someone who owns these things, please do not sue me for writing these stories as I have so little to look forward to in life and you wouldn't want to be responsible for sending me to bankruptcy and quite possibly a padded cell with a strait jacket. Would you?


End file.
